Jaitley assures global investors on expediting reform process

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has assured global investors that efforts are being made to reduce their concerns on expediting reform process, tax regime and policy stability by the Narendra Modi government.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has assured global investors that efforts are being made to reduce their concerns on expediting reform process, tax regime and policy stability by the Narendra Modi government.

Jaitley, who began his 10-day trip to the US on Wednesday, met investors and said while there is "a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz" about India, there are concerns about the pace of reform process and policy stability also.

"I clearly see two kinds of reactions. The predominant reaction is that there is a lot of excitement and a lot of buzz about India. There is a lot of sense of satisfaction with regard to how the reform process has phased out in the last one year. Investors are certainly looking forward at India in order to make large amount of investments in India," Jaitley said after visiting the New York Stock Exchange.

The Finance Minister added that at the same time there are concerns about India in the minds of investors.

"Concerns that the process of reforms must expedite which we are trying to do. Concern at the stability of policy which has been assured because the government's movement is in one direction," he said.

He said there are also concerns about India's taxation regime.

Jaitley, who will be meeting top CEOs, investors and address think-tanks during his visit, said he is in the US "really to be in dialogue with a larger body of investors because the more the investment in India, the more it helps us in our growth process".

"Our growth helps us in removing poverty in India and I think it is a very positive reaction as far as the investors are concerned," he said.

He pointed out that the last year has been fairly good as the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) went up by 39%.

"Almost by the day we are getting proposals both through the direct route and also through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) route," he said.

He cited the example of the about 350 requests to the FIPB in one year which is "almost one a day" and expressed hope that it will increase this year with the impact of the reforms.

Jailtey refused to comment on the controversy over former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi when asked by reporters.